Who’s that board girl?

Snowboarding is everything you fear in life. Falling. Not being able to get up. Loosing your balance. Being told you’re doing it wrong. Balancing on one foot for long periods of time. Jumping without knowing if you will land. Hitting the mountain, hard. Falling. Not being to get up. Repeatedly for hours at a time.

Before I give a recap of my first boarding experience ever, I have a few people to thank. The academy. The weather conditions. Fresh powder. Falling snow. Wind. Ice. Slush.

And a special thank you for attending to fear, anxiety and pain.

Funny thing is, my lesson with (please read the following names the way the players are at major sporting events and give them a round of applause) instructor Sean and instructor Levan made the first half of the day manageable. They were patient, friendly, helpful, complimentary and did I mention PATIENT? And for a class of two kids, a tween, a teen and a 10-days-shy-of-her-28th-birthday-freaked-out-overthinking-never-been-strapped-to-a-board-ever-beginner, they done good. I then spent a couple of more hours flying solo in the school area as the rest of my crew hit the mountain hard.

The conclusion of snowboarding day #1 is a simple thought… Snowboarding should be taught from the time a kid can walk. Walking/skiing/snowboarding should all be looped into one major lesson plan to ensure a 2 year old can do it with ease. And then there would be less awkward first days happening.

Photo from James Dutton's photostream on flickr

P.S. Yes, I will do it again. No, the instructors weren’t dating material. Yes, I fell a lot. No, I didn’t think I could make it happen and somehow it worked out. Thank goodness.